Sovereign wealth funds may not make newspaper headlines often, but they play an increasingly important role in global capital markets, as their asset size has continuously grown in recent years. The value of all sovereign wealth funds worldwide reached $6.51 trillion in March 2016, more than doubling the number in 2008, according to the 2016 Preqin Sovereign Wealth Fund Review.

By common knowledge, the history of sovereign wealth funds dates back to the 1950s, when countries created these funds out of budgetary surplus. Kuwait Investment Authority, which was founded in 1953 to invest in oil and currently manages a portfolio of $592 billion, claimed itself as world’s oldest sovereign wealth fund.

Perhaps not so in North America. Some U.S. states established wealth funds for specific social and economic purposes as early as 150 years ago. Oregon Common School Fund, for instance, was incepted in 1859 to support educational causes and is still actively managed by the Oregon State Lands Department today. Although these state-run funds are as large in asset size as those multi-hundred-billion funds in Middle East countries, they represent an important group of institutional investors in financial markets.

This week, Trusted Insight lists 10 notable sovereign wealth funds in North America, including U.S. and Canadian government-controlled funds at state, province and country levels. (AUM information is based on the most recent financial data available.)